The King’s Fund has published a report – ‘The NHS under the coalition government’ – which starts with the words: “Historians will not be kind in their assessment of the coalition government’s record on NHS reform.”

It’s a game of two halves. It kicked off with Andrew Lansley’s (pictured) massively controversial Health and Social Care Bill, which led to the biggest changes in the NHS’s history. The second half was (and still is) a period of damage limitation. Lansley’s successor, Jeremy Hunt, has simply ignored many of the ‘reforms’, and focused (with limited success) on quality and patient safety.

The reforms were, frankly, disastrous. Organisations that were working reasonably well were obliterated and replaced by a myriad of smaller ones, with more staff and more costs; lacking the expertise of their predecessors, confusion reigned (and still does) among them.

Everybody who works in the NHS knows what a monumental mess the reforms have created. Now, at last, an independent, respected organisation has smelled the coffee and offered a considered assessment. In an election year, the report offers, as never before, searching questions about the NHS for us to put to the people who want our votes. I urge you to read it: it’s not just a view from an ivory tower.